Silicon Valley’s elite are hatching plans to escape disaster – and when it comes, they’ll leave the rest of us behind

‘The Event was their euphemism for the environmental collapse, social unrest, nuclear explosion, virus, or hack that takes everything down.’ Illustration: Matt Huynh

Last year, I got invited to a super-deluxe private resort to deliver a keynote speech to what I assumed would be a hundred or so investment bankers. It was by far the largest fee I had ever been offered for a talk – about half my annual professor’s salary – all to deliver some insight on the subject of “the future of technology”.

I’ve never liked talking about the future. The Q&A sessions always end up more like parlor games, where I’m asked to opine on the latest technology buzzwords as if they were ticker symbols for potential investments: blockchain, 3D printing, Crispr. The audiences are rarely interested in learning about these technologies or their potential impacts beyond the binary choice of whether or not to invest in them. But money talks, so I took the gig.

After I arrived, I was ushered into what I thought was the green room. But instead of being wired with a microphone or taken to a stage, I just sat there at a plain round table as my audience was brought to me: five super-wealthy guys – yes, all men – from the upper echelon of the hedge fund world. After a bit of small talk, I realized they had no interest in the information I had prepared about the future of technology. They had come with questions of their own.

They started out innocuously enough. Ethereum or bitcoin? Is quantum computing a real thing? Slowly but surely, however, they edged into their real topics of concern.

Which region will be less affected by the coming climate crisis: New Zealand or Alaska? Is Google really building Ray Kurzweil a home for his brain, and will his consciousness live through the transition, or will it die and be reborn as a whole new one? Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked: “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the Event?”

The Event. That was their euphemism for the environmental collapse, social unrest, nuclear explosion, unstoppable virus, or Mr Robot hack that takes everything down.

It’s a reduction of human evolution to a video game won by finding the escape hatch and bringing BFFs along for the ride

This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from the angry mobs. But how would they pay the guards once money was worthless? What would stop the guards from choosing their own leader? The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers – if that technology could be developed in time.

That’s when it hit me: at least as far as these gentlemen were concerned, this was a talk about the future of technology. Taking their cue from Elon Musk colonizing Mars, Peter Thiel reversing the ageing process, or Sam Altman and Ray Kurzweil uploading their minds into supercomputers, they were preparing for a digital future that had a whole lot less to do with making the world a better place than it did with transcending the human condition altogether and insulating themselves from a very real and present danger of climate change, rising sea levels, mass migrations, global pandemics, nativist panic, and resource depletion. For them, the future of technology is really about just one thing: escape.

There’s nothing wrong with madly optimistic appraisals of how technology might benefit human society. But the current drive for a post-human utopia is something else. It’s less a vision for the wholesale migration of humanity to a new a state of being than a quest to transcend all that is human: the body, interdependence, compassion, vulnerability, and complexity. As technology philosophers have been pointing out for years, now, the transhumanist vision too easily reduces all of reality to data, concluding that “humans are nothing but information-processing objects”.

It’s a reduction of human evolution to a video game that someone wins by finding the escape hatch and then letting a few of his BFFs come along for the ride. Will it be Musk, Bezos, Thiel … Zuckerberg? These billionaires are the presumptive winners of the digital economy – the same survival-of-the-fittest business landscape that’s fueling most of this speculation to begin with.

Of course, it wasn’t always this way. There was a brief moment, in the early 1990s, when the digital future felt open-ended and up for our invention. Technology was becoming a playground for the counterculture, who saw in it the opportunity to create a more inclusive, distributed, and pro-human future. But established business interests only saw new potentials for the same old extraction, and too many technologists were seduced by unicorn IPOs. Digital futures became understood more like stock futures or cotton futures – something to predict and make bets on. So nearly every speech, article, study, documentary, or white paper was seen as relevant only insofar as it pointed to a ticker symbol. The future became less a thing we create through our present-day choices or hopes for humankind than a predestined scenario we bet on with our venture capital but arrive at passively.

This freed everyone from the moral implications of their activities. Technology development became less a story of collective flourishing than personal survival. Worse, as I learned, to call attention to any of this was to unintentionally cast oneself as an enemy of the market or an anti-technology curmudgeon.

A federal EMP commission report warns that even the smallest EMP attack on our grid system would down it for about a year, if not longer. A year-long blackout would certainly be coupled with a massive death toll that would devastate entire populations.

“The United States — and modern civilization more generally — faces a present and continuing existential threat from naturally occurring and man-made electromagnetic pulse assault and related attacks on military and critical national infrastructures. A nationwide blackout of the electric power grid and grid-dependent critical infrastructures — communications, transportation, sanitation, food and water supply — could plausibly last a year or longer. Many of the systems designed to provide renewable, stand-alone power in case of an emergency, such as generators, uninterruptible power supplies, and renewable energy grid components, are also vulnerable to EMP attack,” said the 27-page report.

“A long-term outage owing to EMP could disable most critical supply chains, leaving the U.S. population living in conditions similar to centuries past, prior to the advent of electric power,” said the July 2017 report provided Secrets.

“In the 1800s, the U.S. population was less than 60 million, and those people had many skills and assets necessary for survival without today’s infrastructure. An extended blackout today could result in the death of a large fraction of the American people through the effects of societal collapse, disease, and starvation,” added the executive summary.

Three reports on the issue of an EMP attack have been declassified by the Pentagon and seven more are awaiting clearance. Among those declassified documents, was a report from Peter Vincent Pry, who served on a prior EMP Commission and is executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, spelling out the human toll of an EMP attack on the electric grid. He also advises the current commission.

Social Disorder: Looting requires a dusk to dawn curfew for those not wanting to risk their lives. People become refugees as they flee powerless homes. The workforce becomes differently employed at scavenging for the basics, including water, food, and shelter.

Transportation: Gas pumps will be inoperable. Failure of signal lights and street lights would impede traffic and all traffic would cease after dark, but not many would even have a functioning vehicle anyway. No mass transit metro service and all airlines will be stopped.

Water and Food: There will be no running water. Stoves and refrigerators will be inoperable. People will have to melt snow, boil water, and cook over open fires. Local food supplies will be exhausted. Most stores will close due to the blackout.

Energy: Oil and natural gas flows will stop.

Emergency Medical: Hospitals will have to operate in the dark. Patients on dialysis and other life support will be threatened. Medications administered and babies will be born by flashlight.

Death and Injury: Casualties from exposure, carbon dioxide poisoning, and house fires increase.

All of these should be kept in mind when prepping for the worst.

Since it’s hard to take that first step and prepare, especially for a year-long power grid failure, a handy guide we’ve often suggested is called The Prepper’s Blueprint. Written by Tess Pennigton, it’ll walk the reader through a prepping regimen with a guide and easy to follow instructions. It’ll give beginning preppers a foundation to build on.

A federal EMP commission report warns that even the smallest EMP attack on our grid system would down it for about a year, if not longer. A year-long blackout would certainly be coupled with a massive death toll that would devastate entire populations.

“The United States — and modern civilization more generally — faces a present and continuing existential threat from naturally occurring and man-made electromagnetic pulse assault and related attacks on military and critical national infrastructures. A nationwide blackout of the electric power grid and grid-dependent critical infrastructures — communications, transportation, sanitation, food and water supply — could plausibly last a year or longer. Many of the systems designed to provide renewable, stand-alone power in case of an emergency, such as generators, uninterruptible power supplies, and renewable energy grid components, are also vulnerable to EMP attack,” said the 27-page report.

“A long-term outage owing to EMP could disable most critical supply chains, leaving the U.S. population living in conditions similar to centuries past, prior to the advent of electric power,” said the July 2017 report provided Secrets.

“In the 1800s, the U.S. population was less than 60 million, and those people had many skills and assets necessary for survival without today’s infrastructure. An extended blackout today could result in the death of a large fraction of the American people through the effects of societal collapse, disease, and starvation,” added the executive summary.

Three reports on the issue of an EMP attack have been declassified by the Pentagon and seven more are awaiting clearance. Among those declassified documents, was a report from Peter Vincent Pry, who served on a prior EMP Commission and is executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, spelling out the human toll of an EMP attack on the electric grid. He also advises the current commission.

Social Disorder: Looting requires a dusk to dawn curfew for those not wanting to risk their lives. People become refugees as they flee powerless homes. The workforce becomes differently employed at scavenging for the basics, including water, food, and shelter.

Transportation: Gas pumps will be inoperable. Failure of signal lights and street lights would impede traffic and all traffic would cease after dark, but not many would even have a functioning vehicle anyway. No mass transit metro service and all airlines will be stopped.

Water and Food: There will be no running water. Stoves and refrigerators will be inoperable. People will have to melt snow, boil water, and cook over open fires. Local food supplies will be exhausted. Most stores will close due to the blackout.

Energy: Oil and natural gas flows will stop.

Emergency Medical: Hospitals will have to operate in the dark. Patients on dialysis and other life support will be threatened. Medications administered and babies will be born by flashlight.

Death and Injury: Casualties from exposure, carbon dioxide poisoning, and house fires increase.

All of these should be kept in mind when prepping for the worst.

Since it’s hard to take that first step and prepare, especially for a year-long power grid failure, a handy guide we’ve often suggested is called The Prepper’s Blueprint. Written by Tess Pennigton, it’ll walk the reader through a prepping regimen with a guide and easy to follow instructions. It’ll give beginning preppers a foundation to build on.

(Natural News) Could Americans survive a disaster? Experts say that even food rationing efforts, similar to those of World War I & II, would be colossal failures in today’s world. During those times, citizens were encouraged to grow their own Victory gardens and did their best to minimize food waste. “Doing your part” was essential, and making do was implied. The liberal cry-bullies of today would certainly be in for quite the rude awakening, wouldn’t they?

As sources explain, there are many reasons why 2018 USA would have a hard time surviving an economic collapse. In addition to the fact that the population is far less patriotic than in decades past, we have an entire generation of entitled, hypocritical, whiny brats running around trying to take people’s rights away. The kids of today would not be able to handle having our current government undertaking rationing efforts, even though the intended purpose of rationing is to ensure there’s enough food for everyone — rest assured, there would be a revolt.

At the very least, they’d probably cry in the streets about how unfair life is. Liberal talking points about equality, gun control and other issues seem to become notoriously absent when the talking heads themselves are asked to do something. Just look at the number of Democratic politicians who advocate for gun control from their soapboxes…which are secured by good guys with guns. Do we really expect that these elitists will participate in something like food rationing?

People aren’t self sufficient anymore

Of course, there is more than one way for the U.S. to flounder during a time of food rationing. In addition to the potential for the leftist cult to try to obscure access to food in order to serve their own, the simple fact of the matter is that people are not self-reliant anymore. How many people do you know with a garden? You might know someone who grows herbs on the windowsill, or maybe they even have a few tomato plants or something — but the days of having a home garden that could feed your family are, by and large, over.

The number of people living in cities and suburbs has grown exponentially over the last several decades. And in some areas, people are even being prohibited from growing gardens in their own yards, meaning that governments across the nation are essentially encouraging people to become even more dependent.

And it’s not just economic collapse that Americans are unprepared for: For most, the concept of disaster preparedness is elusive. Even when people are concerned about events such as tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes, startlingly few people actually make an effort to be prepared for these kinds of disasters. Multiple polls and surveys have shown that Americans, even in disaster-vulnerable areas, may be concerned about bad things happening but are reluctant to actually dosomething about it. As one expert contended, “there’s no relationship between how afraid you are and your likelihood of having a disaster preparedness kit.”

Perhaps partially due to what researchers call “optimistic bias,” people just don’t want to believe that bad things can happen to them. Data has also shown that most people believe the government will take care of them when something bad happens. But is that really a safe bet? In an economic collapse or worse, the government simply may not have the means to provide for everyone.

Russia-24 (Россия-24), a state-owned Russian-language news channel from Moscow, spent five minutes on Tuesday advising its viewers how to prepare for a nuclear war amid the increasing tensions with the United States over Syria. The television anchor urged the country’s citizens to purchase essential items and emergency supplies to stock their bomb shelters.

“If some people did give in to the panic, and decided to spend all their savings on a survival kit, we’ll tell you how to not waste money on something you won’t need.”

He recommended that people purchase salt, oatmeal, and other products that have a long shelf life. He even said powdered milk, grains, and sugar could last for years in storage, as one video during the broadcast demonstrated how to cook pasta while hiding in a bunker. The special broadcast then transitions to the next TV presenter Alexey Kazako, who explains the number one rule of surviving a nuclear blast is “fewer sweets, more water.”

He said: “All chocolates, candies and condensed milk will have to be left behind.

“Glucose is an unrivaled energy source but sweets will make you thirsty, and water will be the most valuable resource for bomb shelter residents.”

Eduard Khalilov, a specialist in survival, explained to viewers about the importance of stocking fresh water.

He said, “people can only survive up to three days without water, but can go up to three weeks without food.”

The channel’s anchor recommended people buy gas masks, radiation tablets, and read nuclear war survival handbooks. The instructions are for “people who succumb to panic and decide to spend all their savings,” he added.

Tensions between both countries have never been higher, as a surge in war fears have flourished after the United States appears to be mobilizing for an attack on Syria. The special aired on the same day Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon said Moscow is prepared to shoot down any U.S. missiles.

“If there is a strike by the Americans, then the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired,” warned Alexander Zasypkin, Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon, during an interview on Tuesday with a television station linked to Hezbollah.

After Russia’s warning, Trump took to Twitter sparking fears that a conflict could break out between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.

Video: Inviolable stock: what should I take with me to the bomb shelter?

“While political scientists and military experts are discussing possible scenarios, someone is already in a hurry to inflate the hysteria. And not in Syria, but in Russia. The web is written almost for the forthcoming Third World War. If all of the sudden there were those who gave in to panic and decided to lower all their savings to the untold reserve, we will tell you how not to spend money in vain.”

In the event that the entire economy collapses and food and become scarce, billionaires are looking for high-end places to hold out and await the new world order. Many billionaires are now preparing for the apocalypse, and their survival plans don’t include anyone outside the global elites.

Peter Thiel, the billionaire behind PayPal, is among those tech giants who see New Zealand as a good place to go in the event of an apocalypse. New Zealand is seen as a particularly safe place for billionaires in the event of an apocalypse. In fact, Thiel has bought a $13.5 million 193-hectare section on the shores of Lake Wanaka, although the only building there at the moment is a barn (that can be seen).

According to the Mirror, plans show he is fitting a panic room in another property he owns in the country and he has been granted New Zealand citizenship in a streamlined process not available to normal (non-global elitists) members of the public. A rough and ready description of the attraction of New Zealand came last year inThe New Yorkermagazine, with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman suggesting the country had become shorthand for apocalypse insurance in Silicon Valley.

In 2011, Thiel declared he’d found “no other country that aligns more with my view of the future than New Zealand”. The country is more relaxed in terms of government than many places, has ample drinking water, and some of the world’s cleanest air.

“Saying you’re ‘buying a house in New Zealand’ is kind of a ‘wink, wink, say no more’,” Hoffman said. “Once you’ve done the Masonic handshake, they’ll be, like: ‘Oh, you know, I have a broker who sells old ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] silos, and they’re nuclear-hardened, and they kind of look like they would be interesting to live in.‘”

“Here’s the thing, folks: to make a long story short, the actions of preppers are vilified,” says Joseph. (Who hasn’t been called a ‘crazy tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist’ for having extra cans of food and some dried jerky meats around?) “You look at people who store non-perishable foods, who store fuel, medical supplies…they get laughed at. But these billionaires are doing the exact same thing and in haste! So you have to wonder, what is the sense of urgency with these people of means that they’re willing to go that far, to buy 98% of an island and their own airline to get there…for there to be that much of a sense of urgency.”

“We, society, is institutionalized. When you go to school, it’s cool to be stupid, it’s cool to run with the crowd, if you run outside that crowd, if you’re a ‘black sheep’, you’re a nerd…it’s a toned-down version of prison culture…but it bleeds over to the outside, so when you do your due diligence and your research, and you say ‘holy cow! All of these billionaires are buying up these bunkers and these properties and they’re putting away food and medical supplies and alternative energy…if they’re focused on that, maybe I should do it!’ And what happens? Well, because you’re an outlier because you don’t go with the crowd, you’re vilified and looked at as a ‘black sheep.’

Billionaires are showing an increased level of urgency; perhaps we should too. “They [the billionaires and elite globalists] see something coming that we don’t. It’s all over the news: whether it be an economic collapse, whether it be a pole shift, whether it be Yellowstone; you name it….they see something most don’t, although the truth is right in front of us,” Joseph says.

If you need help prepping, or don’t know where to begin, please check out the book below. It’s full of useful information on how to prepare for many apocalyptic scenarios.

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If you’re like many, a plethora of knowledge which should have been passed down from your grandmother was replaced by the refrigerator and freezer. These are very recent inventions that most people take for granted nowadays. Now you may be wondering, how did my ancestors preserve a whole winter season worth of frost-intolerant produce? Canning is a useful method, though a large harvest can easily turn it into a seemingly impossible task. The solution many generations before us turned to was building a root cellar.

Although many cannot build their own old-world root cellars due to rentals, adequate space, or urban environments; a little common sense and wisdom of temperature and humidity guidelines will allow anybody to whip together an ideal means of prolonging produce-life through the winter.

A conventional root cellar, which essentially is a room buried in a hillside or underground, meets only a handful of criteria.

Insulation: The earth is a wonderful insulator. A typical old-world root cellar was literally buried on all sides except the entrance, utilizing the natural insulating properties of the soil.

Ventilation: It is important that your make-shift root cellar can breathe. Warm stale air needs to float out of the top of your chamber as fresh cooler air makes its way through the bottom. This is important to keep humidity levels under control in order to prevent the rot of moisture-sensitive vegetables such as squashes.

Consider what you may have on hand if you would like to construct a practical yet permanent root cellar:

Burying an insulated plastic or metal trash can with a tight lid is a popular option. Others have gone to the trouble of recycling an entire broken refrigerator by submerging it in a hillside. Another option is to frame off a corner of your basement with a window or vent. A more conservative approach is to sink a large cooler into the ground. If one of these avenues are chosen make sure you are ventilating with a hose or pipe. A blast valve or similar device may be incorporated to prevent below freezing temperatures from entering your storage compartment.

My personal favorite involves little more than a pile of straw, hay, leaves, or moss and a minimal amount of elbow grease. It is most effective with potatoes (Read on).

As a rule of thumb make sure not to wash any produce prior to storing. This will greatly reduce its ability to keep. Instead provide enough drying time for exterior dirt to dehydrate, then brush off any large clumps.

Apples can be a dangerous food to store with other produce. The idiom one rotten apple spoils the barrel is spot on. As apples age they release ethylene gas which causes other produce to rot too. It’s a wise practice to isolate them in shallow containers with lids. They keep best in 80-90% relative humidity and prefer temperatures of 32-40 degrees Fahrenheit. Check on them often and remove any signs of rot.

Beets prefer the same 32-40 degree temperature range but can withstand a bit more humidity. Outdoor storage is an easy and effective method to practice. Before hard frosts begin simply hoe dirt over the protruding shoulders keeping the foliage exposed. As winter begins mulch over the rows with up to a foot (more for colder climates, less for warmer) of leaves, straw, or hay. This method may be applied to carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery, rutabagas, cabbages, leeks, kale, and spinach with some success as well. In regards to flavor, the longer you can keep cold tolerant produce in the ground, the better. Cool fall temperatures actually sweeten many vegetables such as beets by literally increasing the presence of sugar.

Brussels sprouts are somewhat frost hardy and can be left in the garden until late fall. They may be kept in a root cellar for some time however a lack of moisture will shorten their lifespan. Like beets they prefer a temperature range of 32-40 degrees and high relative humidity of 90-95%.

Cabbage can withstand light frost when it is young and moderately severe frost when mature. Some varieties are briefly tolerant to temperatures as low as 20 degrees. The aforementioned method of mulching beets can be employed here. Cabbage prefers cold temperatures of 32 to 40 degrees and high moisture of about 80-95% relative humidity making it a good root cellar candidate. Either cut off the head or pull out the entire plant (roots included). If the roots are left on it may last a bit longer in a cellar, however if the stump is left in the ground a smaller leafy cabbage will emerge the following season.

Carrots can be kept in the garden under mulch just like beets. Remember to cover the shoulders with dirt. They prefer temperatures of 32-40 degrees and relative humidity of 90-95% in a root cellar. If storing in a cellar, harvest before the soil freezes, cut the stems close to the carrot, and store in a bucket of leaves or sawdust with a loose lid.

Celeriac is one of the best keeping vegetables during the winter months. Trim off the longer roots making sure not to cut too close to the meat. Store it in damp sawdust, sand, or moss at an ideal temperature range of 32-40 degrees and a very moist relative humidity of 90-95%.

Dry Beans can be harvested after pods are nearly dried out while still attached to the vine. Spread the pods on newspaper for a week or two until completely dry. A productive trick to separate the beans from the pods is to fill a bag and beat it with a stick. When a hole is cut in the bottom corner the beans will fall out pod-free. Dry beans store well in temperatures between 32-50 degrees though they can withstand freezing temperatures. They are less moisture tolerant at an ideal range of 60-70% relative humidity. Store in dry containers with tight lids.

Garlic needs to be be air dried in a warm arid area for 2-3 weeks. Remove the roots and store at an ideal 32-50 degrees with 60-70% relative humidity and good airflow.

Leeks come in frost hardy varieties which should be utilized if growing for storage. They can withstand a bit of snow and the mulching process may be used up until the ground freezes. Harvest with some roots still attached and store at an ideal 32-40 degrees upright, preferably in wet sand. Though leeks prefer a high relative humidity of 90-95% take care not to wet the leaves during storage.

Onions require curing until the necks are quite tight before storing. To cure spread them in a dry area with sufficient airflow, or hang them upside down. Ideal storage temperatures range from 32-50 degrees with a relative humidity of 60-70%. Make sure they are stored in an breathable container such as crates or mesh bags.

Parsnips store well in uncovered ground until a solid freeze at which point they should be mulched. The frost improves their flavor for a succulent spring harvest. Store harvested parsnips in damp sawdust at an ideal 32-40 degrees and a high relative humidity of 90-95%.

Potatoes should be cured in a dark place for 1-2 weeks at 45-60 degrees. After this they prefer cold temperatures of 32-40 degrees and moist relative humidity of 80-90%. A great means of outdoor storage is piling an insulating material such as straw or hay on top of unused winter garden space with a few inches of dirt on top. Make sure to keep a ventilation hole, clear of dirt, on one side of the pile and a drainage ditch around the perimeter equipped with a small runoff canal. Throughout the winter hungry gardeners can reach through the ventilation hole and fish out the produce. If you have a tarp on hand covering the top of the pile, but not the ventilation hole, will prevent your storage mound from eroding away. If many potatoes need storing and more than one pile is not an option layer the pile with 4-6 inches of insulating medium, followed by a single layer of potatoes, followed by 4 inches of soil. Repeat the layering process.

Pumpkins should be cured like squash (see below) with the stem left attached and stored around 50-55 degrees. Relative humidity should fall between 60-75%

Sweet Potatoes are able to be preserved all the way until spring if properly cured and stored. To cure, let air-dry in a warm humid environment of 80-85 degrees and 90% relative humidity for 10-14 days. This will toughen the skin and improve the flavor. Sweet Potatoes store best in an unheated room of about 50-60 degrees with a moderate relative humidity of 60-70% taking great care not to let them drop below 50 degrees.

Turnips should be harvested before heavy frosts, tops removed, and stored as you would carrots in a moist insulator such as sawdust, moss, or sand.

Winter Squash should be harvested before a hard frost when the skin is tough enough to prevent penetration from a moderately pressed thumb nail. Flavor is best when the seeds are given a chance to fully develop. Make sure to leave the stem on the fruit and cure for about 10 days at 75-85 degrees, ideally. Store them in a moderately dry and warm spot where the temperature doesn’t drop below 50 and preferably stays below 60 degrees. The best relative humidity for storage falls between 60-70%.